


i see trees of green (red roses too)

by summersocietyy



Series: some other existence [1]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/M, Kidnapping, Kidnapping tw, Torture, Torture tw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:54:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25362706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summersocietyy/pseuds/summersocietyy
Summary: What nobody tells you about finding your soulmate is that the sudden change from shades of gray to color is completely overwhelming.OR the one where your world is black and white until you touch your soulmate.
Relationships: Spencer Reid/Original Female Character(s)
Series: some other existence [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1836655
Kudos: 56





	i see trees of green (red roses too)

**Author's Note:**

> hello and welcome to the Spencer Reid Soulmate AU That Nobody Asked For (Part One) i hope u enjoy!!!

Sophia MacDermott stands in front of her mirror, squinting at herself. Abby had told her this morning that her outfit matched, the blue top and black skirt complementing each other well. She’d even told Sophie what shoes would look best with her outfit, handing her a pair of black wedges. And Abby would know - Abby, after all, can see in color. Abby met her soulmate at eighteen and has been with him ever since, her world full of bright and amazing colors. 

Sometimes Sophie wants to meet her soulmate just so she doesn’t have to rely on her housemates for help with getting dressed in the morning. She knows Abby doesn’t mind - Abby’s never minded since they met their first year at the academy, but that doesn’t mean Sophie herself doesn’t mind. 

Smoothing her hands down her skirt absently, Sophie exhales and shakes herself before slipping out of her room and hurrying down the stairs. She checks her watch and grabs her coffee and lunch off the counter, shouting a thank you over her shoulder as she rushes out the door. She tugs her coat on as she hurries towards the metro station, really not wanting to be late to work. She’s been working with the BAU for a little over six months now, the rest of the team welcoming her in with open arms.

A handful (okay, most) of them have met their soulmates, as well, and Sophie’s been lucky enough to meet them, too, at what Rossi called a family dinner at his house one evening after a case. JJ had brought Will and their two boys, Hotch and Emily had brought their respective girlfriends, Morgan brought Savannah, and Garcia had brought Sam. Rossi’s soulmate wasn’t there, but every time he was asked about her, the softest of smiles appeared on his face while he talked about her.

Sophie and Spencer had been the only two without soulmates. They’d sat beside each other through dinner, talking and laughing with everyone else, both trying to ignore the feelings of loneliness in the pits of their stomachs.

As she shakes the memories out of her head and hurries onto the train, her phone dings brightly in her pocket. She digs it out, leaning against an open patch of wall as the doors woosh closed and the train screeches out of the station. A small smile touches her lips and she wrinkles her nose a little as she reads the text.

_ Spencer Reid 7:45 AM _

_ Running late? _

_ Sophie MacDermott 7:46 AM _

_ You don’t know me _

_ Spencer Reid 7:50 AM _

_ Yes I do.  _

_ There’s a coffee waiting for you at your desk. _

_ Sophie MacDermott 7:50 AM _

_ Oh you love me! _

She smiles at the exchange - as the two youngest BAU agents and the only two without soulmates, they’ve been shoved together more times than she can count since she started. Not that she minds - Spencer is gorgeous, and he’s super sweet and so funny, and okay, sure, she can admit that she has a little bit of a crush on him, but who wouldn’t? And she hasn’t found her soulmate yet, so what does it matter if she has a crush? She’s allowed to have crushes.

She’s not entirely sure why she’s justifying this to herself, but she forces the thoughts out of her head, focusing instead on the scenery as the train trundles along the track. She hums softly, fiddling with her phone, and glances up when she feels eyes on her. She looks up through her lashes, not lifting her head, and surveys the car for a moment. Nobody is looking at her, but she  _ knows _ someone is watching her, and she doesn’t like it.

She slips off the train car at the last minute when it stops, the feeling of eyes on her back disappearing with the train. Exhaling quietly, she hurries up the stairs and practically runs the rest of the way to the Quantico building. True to Spencer’s word, there is a paper cup full of her go-to order at their favorite coffee shop down the street waiting for her on her desk - and it’s still hot. She squeezes his shoulder lightly as she passes him, the feel of his blazer slightly scratchy under her fingers.

“You’re a lifesaver, doc.” She says, falling into her chair and tipping her head back to look at him as it spins around. He laughs softly, sipping at his own coffee.

“Rough commute this morning? You’re usually on time.” Spencer muses, setting his file down and spinning his chair to face her. She hums in response, reaching to take a sip of her coffee before her chair spins again and she tips her head back to its previous position.

“It’s just been an off morning.” She hums, “I almost forgot my lunch  _ and  _ my keys, so I had to run back inside twice, but luckily Abby was still home and brought me my stuff before I even got all the way up the driveway. And then..”

“Then?” Spencer repeats, raising a brow.

“I dunno. It was weird, I kinda felt like someone was.. Watching me on the metro.” She sighs, then shakes her head. “But that’s just me being paranoid, y’know?”

As Spencer opens his mouth to say it’s not necessarily just her being paranoid, Penelope flounces past them, bopping Sophie on the forehead with a stack of files. 

“C’mon, you two, we’ve got a case.”

****

Their unsub has taken down three sets of victims, and the way he’s been doing it makes Sophie’s skin crawl. He’s been kidnapping people in pairs and torturing them both in horrible ways, and yes of course they’ve seen things like this before, but sometimes the cases that are closer to home make Sophie feel a little less safe in her own home. They’ve figured out who their unsub is (Wilson McCoy) and what he’s doing (killing people he thinks have met their soulmates), but they haven’t quite figured out  _ why _ . When they get a report of a stolen vehicle resurfacing across town, Hotch sends Sophie and Spencer to check it out. 

As they park and climb out, both undoing the snaps of their holsters, Sophie feels her stomach turn over. Something about this whole situation feels  _ very _ wrong, but she can’t quite put her finger on it - perhaps it’s the fact that it’s the two of them going into this alone, or that neither of them have radioed for backup. Or maybe it’s the fact that she can feel eyes on her again, the same way she did this morning on the train. Spencer suggests that they split up and she  _ hates _ that idea, but she agrees anyway.

“Spencer.” She says quietly, catching his sleeve before he goes to the front. He glances at her, raising a brow, and she feels her cheeks flush a little. “Be careful.” Roaming around to the back of the building as Spencer goes through the front door, she opens the back door slowly, gun and flashlight drawn as she creeps through the dark halls. 

A floorboard creaks somewhere ahead of her and she whirls to face it, tightening her grip on her gun just so. She tiptoes forward, freezing for a millisecond when she hears a solid thud, then rushes through the doorway, her heart jumping into her throat. Spencer is laying on the ground, blood dripping from a gash in his temple. As she hurries towards him and drops to her knees, relief floods her veins when she sees his chest rise and fall slowly - he’s still breathing, that’s good. 

She reaches for her comms unit on her shoulder, ready to snap for backup, when she feels something hard connect with the back of her head. She collapses next to Spencer, the world going dark instantly.

****

Who knows how much later, Sophie gasps sharply, jerking awake as cold water splashes over her. Coughing and sputtering, she shakes her hair out of her face and blinks a few times, looking around. The first thing she notices is that there’s something digging sharply into her wrists, and she realizes after a moment that she’s been bound, her arms wrapped forcibly around a support beam with a ziptie holding her hands together. The next thing she notices is the chill, and not just from the freezing water that’s just been dumped on her. She’s not sure exactly where she is, but she can tell that it’s some sort of basement.

The last thing she notices is Spencer, across the room, also bound and propped against a pole like she is, though his back is to the pole and his wrists are tied together behind it.

“Welcome to the land of the living.” Says a cool voice above her. Sophie looks up sharply, glaring into the eyes of who she can only assume is Wilson McCoy. She watches as he stalks across the room and repeats his motion with Spencer, dumping another bucket of icy water over the genius. Spencer sucks in a breath and Sophie watches him look around quickly, taking stock of his surroundings the same way she had.

When his eyes land on her, she gives him a weak smile. He doesn’t bother trying to return it, instead looking up and glaring at McCoy. 

“Our team knows we were coming here. They’ll be here any minute.” He says shortly. McCoy clicks his tongue and shakes his head, smirking at Spencer.

“Maybe your team  _ knew _ where you were going, but we’re not there now.” He tells them. 

“That doesn’t matter, they’ll find us anyway.” Sophie says. McCoy turns to her suddenly, stalking back across the room and grabbing her by the hair, jerking her head back roughly. She gasps sharply, feeling his fingers tug a few strands from her scalp.

“Did I say you could talk?” He hisses at her, leaning close to her face. She watches him fiercely for a moment, then spits at him. He jerks back, releasing her hair and wiping his face quickly, then backhands her. The force of the impact knocks her head sideways and she hits it against the beam hard, crying out. She vaguely hears Spencer yell at McCoy as she blinks slowly, trying to clear the stars from her vision.

“Leave her alone!” Spencer shouts, struggling against his own binds. McCoy turns and makes his way back to Spencer, meandering around the basement as though he were shopping for dishes. He observes the doctor for a moment, clasping his hands behind his back before gasping lightly.

“You  _ like _ her, don’t you?” He asks, stopping in front of Spencer. 

“She’s my partner, of course I like her.” Spencer snaps, leaning to the side to try and get a glimpse of Sophie again. She squeezes her eyes shut for a moment, trying to force her head to stop throbbing.

“Oh, but you like her  _ more _ than that.” McCoy says in a sing-song tone, crossing his arms.

“She’s my friend, too. You can’t work with someone for as long as we have without becoming friends.” Spencer tells him, glaring up at him still. McCoy raises a brow and Spencer tugs at his binds again. “What else do you want?!” He asks harshly.

“Now, now.” McCoy says, crouching in front of Spencer, “Play nice, Doctor Reid.” Standing up, he moves back across the room to Sophie, dragging his hand down her arm slowly. She shudders and tries to move away from him, but he grabs her upper arms roughly and hauls her to her feet. He lifts her arms above her head as she stands, hooking the ziptie around a hook screwed into the beam. 

“Don’t - don’t touch me-” Sophie mumbles as McCoy undoes the buttons at the back of her blouse. 

“I want you to admit your little crush on your partner.” McCoy says, yanking on the back of Sophie’s blouse sharply. The fabric tears, leaving her back exposed, and he draws a finger up her spine slowly.

“Leave her alone!” Spencer shouts again, tugging at his binds. God, how he wishes he had a knife or that McCoy had been dumb enough to bind his hands in front of him the way he’d done with Sophie. “I don’t know what you’re talking about - leave her alone!”

“Oh, of course you do.” McCoy spits. Sophie tries to worm away from him, grimacing and shuddering at the feel of his rough hands against her hips. “Does your soulmate know that you like your partner the way you do?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Spencer says, feeling rage boil inside of him at the panicked look on Sophie’s face. “I haven’t met my soulmate.”

“Well, isn’t that a  _ shame _ ?” McCoy says, though his tone of voice makes it sound very much like he doesn’t think it’s a shame at all. “They’re all useless and pointless anyways. But if you haven’t met your soulmate, I suppose your wannabe-lover will have to do.” Spencer’s brain works a mile a minute as McCoy picks up a leather belt from a table in the corner and makes his way back to Sophie. He draws his arm back and brings the belt down hard against Sophie’s back once, twice, three times, ignoring Spencer shouting at the top of his lungs for him to stop. Sophie screams with each lashing, and Spencer, though he doesn’t know what red looks like, understands the meaning of seeing red as blood begins to stream down her back.

“Your soulmate never loved you, did she?” He asks suddenly, watching as McCoy’s entire demeanor changes. In an instant, he goes from cold and calculated to hot and full of unbridled rage. “She took one look at you and knew  _ exactly _ what you are, and so she left you. Right?” McCoy turns to him slowly, his eyes burning. 

“Spencer, don’t-” Sophie says hoarsely. McCoy turns back to her and roars at her to shut up, bringing the belt down against her back once more before advancing on Spencer. There are tear tracks down her cheeks as McCoy grabs Spencer by the hair and hauls him to his feet as well, his hand closing around his throat. Spencer watches over his shoulder as Sophie gathers her strength and pushes onto her toes to get the ziptie off the hook.

“If you know what’s good for you and your little bitch over there, you’ll shut the hell up.” McCoy says darkly. Spencer looks back to him and glares fiercely.

“She never loved you.” He repeats, his voice coming out as more of a croak than anything else as spots begin to dance in front of his eyes. “You found each other and she saw you for exactly what you are - a psychopath. So she left you for another man. Left you to see color all on your own and know that she was out there with someone else, using the gift  _ you _ gave her with  _ him _ .” 

“Shut up!” McCoy roars again. Sophie takes the opportunity of the volume of his shouting to lift her arms and bring them down hard, effectively snapping the ziptie around her wrists. She stumbles away from the beam and steadies herself for a moment before gathering her strength and sprinting across the room, where she throws herself onto McCoy’s back. McCoy shouts and stumbles away from Spencer, but Sophie wraps her arms around his neck in a chokehold. Spencer drops to his knees, coughing hard and trying to regain his breath before looking up again and watching anxiously.

McCoy stumbles back towards the wall, crushing Sophie between himself and the bricks for a moment. She screams, agony pulling the sound from deep in her chest as the bricks scrape against her wounds, but she doesn’t let go. This continues for a few minutes until McCoy goes down hard and Sophie falls off of him, stumbling away and dropping to the floor as well. She lays there on her side, trying to catch her breath, her eyes fluttering as she fights to stay awake.

“Sophia! Sophie, hey. Hey, focus on me, focus on my voice.” Spencer says desperately. Somewhere above them, a door slams open and he can hear heavy footfalls as the team rushes in and he thinks he could cry. He screams for Hotch as loud as he can as Sophie slips in and out of consciousness. A moment later, the basement door flies open and Hotch and Morgan come rushing down the stairs. 

Morgan moves to Sophie, leaning down to check for a pulse, which makes Spencer’s heart jump into his throat, though he knows she’s still breathing. As Hotch cuts the ziptie around Spencer’s wrists and helps him stand, Morgan steps aside to let the paramedics take over with Sophie. Spencer starts to move towards Sophie and the medics, but Hotch catches him and holds him back.

“Let them do what they need to.” He says, his voice gentle but firm. “You need to get looked at, too, Reid.”

“I’m fine.” He says shortly, peering around Hotch as the medics scoop Sophie delicately onto a stretcher. He watches them carry her upstairs, longing to follow them, but Hotch is speaking to him again, asking him what happened. As they go upstairs slowly, Spencer fills them in quietly, rubbing his wrists. Medics from another ambulance sweep him away as the first ambulance tears away from the house and heads for the hospital. They check his vitals, make sure he doesn’t have a concussion or any broken bones or anything that needs immediate attention, then release him.

“Hey, kid.” Morgan says, approaching him and steering him towards one of the SUVs. “JJ and Rossi are gonna drive you to the hospital.” Spencer nods quietly, mumbling a thank you and climbing into the back of the SUV as JJ and Rossi climb into the front. He sits in the back silently, watching the lights go by as the sun starts to come up.

They reach the hospital in no time and are directed to a waiting room after being told that Sophie’s in surgery to be stitched up. It isn’t long before the rest of the team joins them and they each settle into a chair or a loveseat. Everyone who has someone to go home to steps away to call their partner and fill them in and promise that they’ll be home as soon as they can. Spencer stays in his chair, watching the doors to the operating wing silently. Every time they open and a nurse or doctor emerges, he starts to sit up, but they never come his way. 

Eventually, though, a doctor does come out and approach them.

“Sophia MacDermott?” He asks, and the whole team jumps to their feet. His brows lift a little, but he shakes his head and clears his throat. “She’s gonna have some scarring, but I expect her to make a full recovery. She’s a tough one.”

Everyone breathes a collective sigh of relief, and Spencer steps forward.

“Can we see her?” He asks anxiously. The doctor nods.

“She’s still sleeping, but the anesthesia should wear off in the next hour or so. I would suggest only one or two of you go in to see her at a time.” He tells them. Everyone nods and he directs them to a room, excusing himself to go deal with another patient.

“You should go first, Spence.” JJ says, touching his arm gently. Spencer clears his throat and nods, glancing around at the rest of the team for a moment before moving down the hall towards the room they’d been directed to. He slips into Sophie’s room silently and hovers by the door, swallowing thickly as he stares at her.

She looks so small and delicate in the hospital bed, bandages wrapped around her torso and upper arm. The fluorescent lights make the pale gray of her skin look paler than usual. Spencer perches at her bedside, wanting nothing more than to reach out and take her hand. He’s scared he’ll hurt her more somehow, though, so he keeps his hands to himself.

“I’m pretty sure Garcia was about ready to kill you when she heard what happened.” He says softly, hoping she can hear him. “She was practically hysterical when we called her to meet us here.” He swallows thickly, watching Sophie and rubbing his knees. “I’m really glad you’re okay. I know I told McCoy you were my friend, but you’re more than that.”

He clears his throat quietly, watching the floor and trying to blink back tears. “You’re my best friend, Sophie.” He says quietly, “And I can’t thank you enough for what you did or tell you how stupid it was.”

“Had to be stupid. If I was as smart as you, the world would implode.” Her voice is hoarse, and when Spencer jerks his head up, her eyes are closed but she’s smiling. “There’s only room in this world for one supergenius.” 

“Hey, hey you’re awake.” He breathes, shifting forward in his chair. Sophie lolls her head to face him, smiling tiredly and forcing her eyes open. “How’re you feeling? Do you need anything?”

“Mmm. I feel like rubber.” She mumbles. Spencer laughs softly, wiping his eyes carefully. 

“That’s the lidocaine.” He tells her. She giggles lazily and the sound makes Spencer’s heart sing. He’d been so scared for hours that he’d never hear that sound again. He’s about to reach out and take her hand when he hears Garcia gasp behind him and she comes rushing in with JJ and Emily, chattering eagerly about how happy they are to see her awake. 

Sophie finds Spencer’s eyes through the crowd of girls, giving him a smile and a lazy wink.

****

It’s been a week since everything went down with Wilson McCoy, and Rossi has called for a family dinner again - this time, just the BAU family. He makes Bolognese ala Rossi, refusing to let Sophie help even though she pouts at him for a solid seven and a half minutes - Spencer keeps track. Everyone flutters around Sophie throughout the evening, making sure she’s okay and comfortable and doesn’t need anything, and Spencer’s known her long enough to recognize the overwhelmed look in her eyes, and makes it his mission to distract everyone long enough for her to slip outside.

She shoots him a grateful look over Emily’s shoulder, wrapping her sweater around herself a little tighter as she goes. With everyone properly distracted by each other and their food and Rossi’s music choice, Spencer slips outside after Sophie, coming out to stand beside her as the sun begins to set. 

“That’s my sweater, y’know.” Spencer says gently, looking up at the sky. Sophie glances at him out of the corner of her eye, smiling just so.

“You never asked for it back.” She tells him, and he smiles a little, because the sass is back in her voice and he realizes just how much he missed that. He shoves his hands into his pockets, looking up as fireflies begin to fill the sky. They stand together in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Sophie speaks again, her voice barely above a whisper. “Do you think that’s really what happened?”

Spencer glances at her, brows furrowed. “What d’you mean?” He asks softly. Sophie shrugs, her eyes still following the track of a lightning bug as it flutters past, its bulb blinking in the rapidly fading light.

“About his soulmate. What you said, that she took one look at him and she knew.” She says quietly. Spencer sighs, shrugging.

“I think so. It seems like it was, judging by his reaction.” He muses. “But I don’t think we’ll ever really know. Nobody but him knows if he can actually see color, if he did actually meet and touch his soulmate.” Sophie hums.

“I wonder sometimes if I have a soulmate.” She murmurs. Spencer frowns, but Sophie continues before he can ask what she means again. “Like - McCoy, suppose he did actually meet his soulmate and she rejected him. What if I meet my soulmate and they reject me? What am I supposed to do with that?”

“Well, probably not become a serial killer.” Spencer says. Sophie smiles just so at the teasing in his voice, but her smile drops again after a moment.

“But then I think about like.. My parents met so young, and Abby met Josh when she was eighteen, and they all love each other  _ so much _ and I - I want that, Spencer. I want something like what they have, but what if.. What if I don’t get it?” She asks quietly. Spencer can hear tears in her voice and it makes his heart ache.

“You will.” He promises her softly. “And whoever your soulmate is, they’re gonna be the luckiest person in the world, Soph. You’re amazing.” She looks up at him then, meets his eyes for the first time since coming outside, and the small smile she gives him is genuine. 

“Thank you.” She says quietly. She reaches out to squeeze his fingers lightly, and as she realizes that it’s the first skin-to-skin contact they’ve had since she started working with the BAU, her world is changed forever. 

What nobody tells you about finding your soulmate is that the sudden change from shades of gray to color is completely overwhelming. As her fingers brush against Spencer’s, and he almost immediately jerks his hand back, the world bursts into color, and Sophie stumbles away from him with a sharp intake of breath. She looks up at him as he stares at his hands, his own eyes wide. When he finally looks up and meets her eyes, she realizes that his are brimming with tears. For a few minutes, all they do is stare at each other.

“Your hair..” He says finally, his voice soft, his feet still firmly planted in the grass three feet away from her.

“My mom says it’s red.” She says quietly.

“Red.” He repeats on a whisper. She nods, and before she can say anything else, he’s rushing forward and grabbing her face and kissing her desperately. She gasps softly into his mouth, her own hands coming up to tangle into his hair, neither of them paying any attention to the gathering crowd of their coworkers at the french doors leading back into Rossi’s kitchen. When Spencer pulls away finally, they’re both breathless. 

“What color are your eyes?” He breathes, brushing his fingers along her cheekbone delicately.

“Garcia told me they’re blue.” She whispers, her fingers brushing against his wrist.

“She told me mine are hazel.” He whispers back. She giggles then, stepping closer.

“Hazel.” She repeats softly, tipping her head and cupping his cheeks gently. Spencer watches her, his hands falling to her waist. As she leans up to kiss him again, all she can think is that his eyes look like  _ home _ .

**Author's Note:**

> this is going into a series bc there are SO MANY cool soulmate au ideas and im getting them all from tiktok so BE PREPARED Y'ALL


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